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Thursday, March 17, 2005

A 94-YEAR-OLD woman drowned herself in a harbour because she could not bear returning to hospital, her family said yesterday. Alice Weeks had been suffering extreme pain with an inflamed gall bladder, but was frightened of attending hospital again. Relatives said the widow's fear stemmed from her last visit, when a female patient, thought to have had psychiatric problems, repeatedly woke her up in the night by standing over her bed and staring at her.

Mrs Weeks, who lived alone, walked out of her home in Poole, Dorset, last Friday evening using her Zimmer frame and walking stick. A couple having dinner in the Quay Thistle Hotel noticed her walking behind a shed by the Fisherman's Dock on Poole Quay at around 8pm.

She is thought to have jumped into the water shortly afterwards, but her body was not found until it was spotted by a fisherman the next morning. Her Zimmer frame and walking stick were found neatly left behind the shed. A post-mortem examination revealed that she had died of drowning. It also showed that she had an inflamed gall bladder, which would have caused extreme pain.

Marian Wood, her daughter, and Grace Collins, her niece, believe that the frightening experience during her earlier stay in Poole hospital in January had put her off returning. She felt particularly vulnerable because she had to take her hearing aid out at night and would be woken up with a start by the patient looming over her bed. Mrs Wood said: "Despite the pain she was in, she had been put off returning to Poole hospital because of this frightening experience that happened to her in January.....

A spokesman for Poole General Hospital said that an investigation was under way. He added: "We were not aware of this incident in January while she was staying at the hospital, otherwise we would have reassured her."